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Friday, 19 December 2014 01:26 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Dharisha Bastians in Kuliyapitiya
Presidential Candidate and incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa addressed a massive rally in the North Western city of Kuliyapitiya on Wednesday, urging the massive crowds in attendance to give him a third term in office to ensure political stability and continued development.
“We cannot allow Sri Lanka to be destablised by religious and racial hatred like Iraq, Libya and Syria,” the President told crowds after he was given a rousing welcome by the crowd. The President steered clear from launching attacks on his opponent but told supporters that the country could not afford to have his program of work, put in place over nine years, to be turned back.
“In 2005, you brought me to power and you asked me to do only one thing. You asked me to finish the war and end the separation of the country. You asked me to stop the bombs and stop the killing. Didn’t I keep my promise?” he asked.
Raising both hands in his signature wave, Candidate Rajapaksa left the grounds after a 10-minute speech.
Other UPFA ministers and provincial leaders went negative against the opposition candidate.
Housing and Construction Minister Wimal Weerawansa charged that Opposition challenger Maithripala Sirisena had no idea how to even choose his own wardrobe. “Even that he does what others want him to do. Maithripala is trying to dress like Modi. How can someone like this run the country?” he charged.
Former UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake, who joined the Government on nominations day and received Sirisena’s vacated Health Minister portfolio, said the common Opposition alliance was doomed. “There is only one place this bus Maithripala Sirisena is driving with the UNP and the JHU will end up on 8 January,” he vowed, “the cemetery.”
Attanayake charged that there was a secret pact between Sirisena and the Tamil National Alliance to provide police powers to the North. “They have agreed to grant police powers and ensure Mahinda Rajapaksa is taken to the international war crimes tribunal in the Hague,” he charged.
North Western Province Chief Minister and former UNP Member Dayasiri Jayasekera charged that the Global Tamil Forum was waiting for President Rajapaksa’s defeat in order to take him to the Hague. “We will never let that happen,” he said.
Jayasekera charged that UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was once again sabotaging the Sirisena campaign. Life-size images and gigantic balloons featuring images of President Rajapaksa decorated the Shilpa Shalika Grounds in Kuliyapitiya, where he arrived by helicopter to address the crowds at about 4.20 p.m. last evening.
Unmanned drones also made an appearance during the rally, for crowd counting and photographing the crowds. More than 50 SLTB buses hired by the UPFA ferried people to the venue from all over the North Western Province. SLFP organisers claimed the buses had been hired by the SLTB at the cost of Rs. 7,000 each.
“Poor people in the villages cannot afford to come to the rallies on their own, so of course the Government brings them in by bus,” SLFP Organiser for the Kurunegala District and former North Western Province Chief Minister Athula Wijesiri told Daily FT. Wijesiri claimed that the people of Kuliyapitiya and across the district of Kurunegala were wealthy and landed. “They are an agricultural community. So there are no economic problems here,” he said. Supporters in the true-blue town vowed that President Rajapaksa would be returned to power in the 8 January election.
“Maithripala Sirisena poses no challenge,” Padmawathi Perera, a 55-year-old SLFP supporter from Giriulla told Daily FT. She said SLFP members felt Sirisena had defected from the Government for ‘personal reasons.’ “His ambition got the better of him,” said M. Ranaweera, a businessman from Katugampola of Sirisena’s defection. “There was more time for him to achieve his personal goals.” Ranaweera said that the ‘little people’ in Sri Lankan villages were still with President Rajapaksa.
Other supporters in the area acknowledged that President Rajapaksa’s popularity had waned somewhat since the 2010 election, but expressed confidence he would still carry the vote on 8 January.
Independence of judiciary safeguarded – President
President Rajapaksa has emphatically mentioned that the Government safeguarded the independence of judiciary to the maximum.
The President laid this emphasis on Tuesday (16 December), joining in a meeting organised by the Lawyers Association for the Protection of Democracy and Human Rights. The President received a warm welcome from the attorneys. The President underscored that everyone should unite to safeguard the victories achieved by the motherland.
Ministers Prof. G.L. Peiris, W.D.J. Seneviratne and Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Deputy Minister Faizer Mustapha and Prof. Karunaratne Hangawatte were among those who participated. The President also exchanged pleasantries with the lawyers present.
